Four stabbed on California college campus; suspected knifeman, a student, is killed by cops

Four people were wounded in a UC Merced campus stabbing Wednesday. (Andrew Kuhn/AP)

Four people were injured in a California college knife attack Wednesday morning before the campus stabber was shot and killed by campus cops, authorities said.

The unidentified knifeman was a student at the school. He started attacking people inside a classroom building on the University of California's Merced campus around 8 a.m., the school said in a statement.

Advertisement

Campus spokeswoman Lorena Anderson said Wednesday that two of the victims were taken by helicopter to hospitals for treatment. Two others were treated on campus, she said.

Those attacked were identified as two students, a staff member and an outside contractor, the school said. No motive has been revealed.

"I was listening to a podcast, and there was a break in talking, and I just hear a gunshot," student Alex Lopez, 21, said. "You see this stuff all over the news and stuff and you see it happen to all these other schools," but never expect it to happen at your own, he told the Associated Press.

Authorities initially said five people had been hurt. All of the wounded are expected to survive, the school said.

Police are investigating the attack. The university cancelled classes for the rest of the day and campus will again be closed Thursday before reopening Friday.

The rural school, the newest in the University of California's system, is about 120 miles south of Sacramento.